Just Like Old Times Holiday Special
by RoseDimitriLoveJunky
Summary: Because JLOT was so popular, I have decided that I will post up a separate story just for holidays. Like Christmas, Easter, ect. Lots of fun, fluff action and just awesomeness so please give it a read and review:)
1. Chapter 1

**Merry Christmas :) for 2014**

DPOV

I snuck out of bed as quietly as I could, but it didn't really matter at this point. Rose could sleep through World War III on a good day, but when she was pregnant- it would take a full blown Strigoi attack to wake her up. Well that and food. So there was no danger of me waking her up no matter how noisy I was.

I made my way down the hall and went into the kitchen to start making Rose breakfast in bed. When suddenly I was attacked!

"Daddy daddy! What are you doing up?! Santa won't come come if you're up!" I turned around and saw little Lissa standing behind me in her night clothes and looking like she was about to pull rank and order me back to bed. I smiled and got down to her level and waved at her to come over to me. She ran over and jumped onto my lap.

"Well you see Lissy, Santa runs on human time and right now all of them are in bed so he gives them their gifts now. But since we Dhampirs are different, he starts Christmas early for us and delivers our presents in the day time, so Santa has already been," I told her with a warm smile. She was only four and I didn't want her to lose her child like innocents just yet.

"So my presents are already here?!" she asked and squirmed out of my arms and ran over to the tree that we had set up on the first of December. I smiled and ran after her and I found her under the tree looking for the biggest present to open first.

"Woah not so fast Lissy, mummy is still asleep and I know that she will want to watch you unwrap your presents as well."

"Oh. Well then let's go and wake her up!" Lissy said and started to run to our room.

"Uh no Lissy, mummy is very tired these days and needs her sleep so we can't wake her yet."

Her little face crumbled and it broke my heart to see it. "But why don't you help me with a special surprise that I have planned for mummy," I said with a excited look. It worked. Her face lit up like our Christmas tree.

"What is it?"

"We're going to make her her favourite breakfast,that she can have in bed. Waffles," I said matching the excitement in her voice.

Lissy started jumping up and down. "Yay mummy loves those! Oh can we put ice cream on them!" she asked with such enthusiasm that anyone who saw it was sure to know that she was Rose's daughter. No one else could possibly get so excited about unhealthy food for breakfast.

I laughed and ruffled her hair. "Of course we can sweetheart."

We went in to the kitchen and started mixing the ingredients for the waffles. After it was mostly done, I gave Lissy the important task of mixing the batter while I cooked up some bacon and eggs to go on the side. And come on, it's Rose! Pregnant or not, there will be no left overs.

When we were done, I went outside and cut a beautiful bunch of purple flowers and put them in a vase and put it all on a big serving tray. Lissy ran behind me as we made our way up stairs to Rose's and my room. I gently knocked on the door and walked in.

"Merry Christmas mummy!" Lissy shouted and jumped on the bed waking Rose up with a start.

"What's wrong?! Wha-" she said instantly alert and reaching out for the stake that was at her bedside table even though she was eight and a half months pregnant and on maternity leave.

"Daddy made you breakfast in bed! Look! It's your favourite!" Lissy said with a smile so big it looked like she was the one that was getting the big surprise.

"Breakfast in bed for the wonderful mother of my children," I said with a huge grin and I set the tray on her lap avoiding her swollen belly.

"Well right now it's only the mother of your child, we're still waiting for the next guest at the party to arrive," Rose said affectionately rubbing her tummy. I leaned over and kissed it.

"Неважно, живые Товарищи и в там и я не могу ждать к мясу его."

(Doesn't matter, Comrades alive and in there and I can't wait to meet him) I muttered in Russian.

Rose had continued with her studying after we finished the mission at the school and was now almost as fluent as a native.

"Mmm this smells good enough to eat," Rose said as she started cutting up the waffles with a hungry look on her face.

"It's tastes good too, or so I've been told," I said with a smile as I watched my beautiful wife devour the food I made her. I nibbled a bit here and there, but I had already had breakfast down stars. It was better not to get my hands too close to Rose while she was eating when she was just hungry. But pregnant...forget it! You could lose a hand that way.

"Lissa and Christian are coming over soon aren't they?" Rose asked after she was done with most of her food and the speed that she had been eating at had slowed down to normal. Well normal for Rose anyway.

"Yeah, in about an hour so you had better start showering now so you don't keep them waiting too long," I joked and had to dodge a pillow for my troubles.

"Who cares it's Lissa, she's used to waiting for bathroom time," Rose grumbled as she finished eating and slowly started getting out of bed. I reached over and helped her, she was seriously getting big and looked like she would be ready to deliver any day now. But as eager as I was to see Comrade for the first time, I knew that she wasn't ready just yet.

"Oh yay! Will Alex be coming with them?" Lissy asked bouncing up and down on the bed a bit. Alexander was Lissa's and Christian's son, who was just a year younger than Lissy. The two had been best friends from birth and I knew that they would stay that way. Lissy was already talking about becoming Alex's guardian when they were older. I wouldn't mind, Lissy may be the first of her kind but she was just as good if not better as any Dhampir. But instead of sending her off to the Academy for training, Rose and I were going to take turns training her until she was older, then we would send her away for little trips at a time so she could spend time with other kids her own age. Both Rose and I wanted to be a big part in our children's lives.

I was a little worried that Lissy and Alex would become...a little too close. But that was years away from now so I didn't really need to worry about that just yet.

"Yes Lissy, Alex will be here so I hope that you have his present all wrapped," Rose said once she was finally out of bed. Lissy had been working very hard on making herself and Alex friendship bracelets and was very proud of her handy work.

"Yep! I got it under the tree and everything," she said looking a little smug.

"Well that's good. Why don't you go down stairs and get some breakfast while I help mummy shower," I said giving Rose a cheeky smile.

"Ok," Lissy said not finding anything odd about what I just said and ran out of the room.

"Oh that was bad Comrade," Rose said with a cheeky grin.

"Me Comrade, or him Comrade?" I asked as I put a hand on Roza's stomach and felt a kick and smiled.

"You Comrade," Rose said walking in to the bathroom and getting undressed. I helped her with her nighty and made sure she didn't slip when she got in the shower. But once she was in, she turned around and looked at me expectingly.

"I thought you were going to help me shower," she said trying- and almost seceded at raising one eyebrow. I just grinned and took my clothes off and got in with her.

After a nice (but a little too quick for my liking) shower, I helped Rose out and left her to get dressed while I went downstairs to make sure that Lissy didn't set fire to anything (she was almost as bad as Rose but since she was so young I thought that there might still be hope for her in the future). I found her sitting quietly reading a book. She may look and eat just like Rose, but she definitely got her love of books from me.

"How is Scooby Doo going?" I asked after I looked at what book she was reading.

"Well in this picture he's eating a pizza, but here he's hiding from a ghost, so I'm not sure," Lissy said looking much older then four right now as she tried to read a story from mostly pictures alone.

"Well don't worry, I'm sure that the mystery gang will- " DING. I looked at the door then back at Lissy. "I bet that that will be Auntie Lissa and Uncle Christian," I said and watched her run over to the tree to get her gift.

But when I opened the door it wasn't Lissa and Christian. But Sydney and Adrian.

"Merry Christmas cradle filler," Adrian said proudly using his new nick name for me, he had been calling me that ever since he found out that Rose was pregnant. I suppose that the name could of been worse, but I didn't tell him that or he would make it his personal mission to find one that was.

"Hello Adrian, Sydney," I said smiling at her and the toddler on her hip. Little Jason was only two but he was just as much trouble, if not more, then the other two kids combined.

"Thank you for having us over Dimitri," Sydney said smiling back. I moved out of the way and let them in.

"Rose, Adrian and Sydney are here," I called up to her.

"Hey Jason," Lissy said walking over to the group that had just walked in the door.

"Issy!" Jason said not able to get Lissy's name right just yet.

"How's mini me doing?" Lissa asked as she and Christian walked in the door with Alexander beside there side. Lissa smiled down at her godchild.

"Getting hungrier by the day," I said with a smile.

"No surprises there. But I AM surprised that she hasn't eaten you out of house and home by now, especially now that she's pregnant again. I don't know how you cope," Christian said waiting for Rose to come downstairs so he could torment her in person.

"I heard that!" Rose called as she slowly came down the stairs.

"Woah! Easy there on the walking Rose! You could cause an earthquake with how heavy you've gotten," Christian said thinking that he was safe from Rose hitting him when she was so far away and unable to move fast. But Lissa had Rose's back and elbowed Christian in the ribs.

"Be nice or I swear we won't have any more kids," Lissa threatened. I knew it was a bluff but Christian's eyes widened and he kept silent.

"Well what are we all doing standing in the doorway for? Don't these kids have some presents to open?" Rose said loudly and everyone laughed and moved in to the lounge room.

Lissy gave Alex the bracelet and they both promised to never take it off.

Alex got Lissy a Where's Wally** (that's what we call it in Australia) **book and they both sat down on the floor determined to find where he was hidden.

Rose and I got Christian cooking stuff and Lissa some pink lipgloss (I don't know what the big deal about it was, but both Rose and Lissa absolutely loved the stuff).

Christian and Lissa got me a gift card for the book store and Rose some Belgium chocolates.

Adrian got Rose some wireless headphones that connected to the TV so she could listen to a movie or something when she was busy feeding or looking after the kids.

"Not the best parenting I know, but when the kid just won't stop screaming, sometimes you just need a little break," Adrian said with a smile and Sydney hit him.

"You had better not have use that on Jason!" she demanded.

"Only a few times when he was over tired and just wouldn't sleep no matter what we tried!" Adrian confessed and looked worried that Sydney would hit him again.

Sydney gave Rose an anti- stress bath kit that she had made up herself which I knew would come in handy after the baby was born. And we gave Jason a few DVDs that Lissy loved and that he might like too.

Then I gave Rose a pair of pearl earrings that had belonged to my great grandmother.

"Comrade," she breathed out when she saw them. "B...but I thought that we agreed not to give each other presents this year. I...I don't have anything for you," she said looking up at me with big eyes. I just smiled and kissed her.

"You have already given me more than I could ever possibly dream," I said and held her in my arms. I felt Comrade going crazy in her stomach and figured that he liked the gift too.

"Ok who wants lunch?" I asked and got up off the couch.

"I doooooo," Rose cried as she tried to get up and failed.

"Rose!" I cried and was by her side in a heartbeat.

"I...I'm ok," she panted, but she didn't sound ok.

"Huhhh Rose?" Christian said awkwardly. "I don't know how to tell you this but..."

"Then I will. Rose your water broke, you're having the baby," Sydney said in a calm voice.

"We need to get you to the hospital," I said and started moving.

Five hours later and it was all over. We had gotten to the hospital just in time and I held Rose's hand as she brought our son into the world. The moment that I saw him I was in love. I knew that, just as Lissy had taken after Rose, that Comrade was taking after me. I held him in my arms for the first time and I swear that it felt just as amazing as the first time that I had held Lissy.

"He's perfect," I said and looked over at Rose. She was lying in bed looking extremely tired but happy. "And he's all ours."

"Well then I guess I was wrong," Rose said and I looked over at her in confusion.

"Wrong about what?"

"I guess I did have something to give you for a Christmas present after all. Merry Christmas Comrade," Rose said and smiled at me.

"Merry Christmas Roza," This was by far the best Christmas ever!

**And a very merry Christmas to all of you:) Next will be a New Years up date:) **

**Also I'm from Australia and don't know all of the holidays in the word,but if you want me to try then tell me a bit about them and I will give it a shot:) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Enjoy your last day of 2014 :)**

**"Merry Christmas Roza." This was by far the best Christmas ever!  
**

RPOV

New Years sucks. Oh don't get me wrong. I'm not a grinch that hates the holidays. I mean you get the day off of work, get to eat all kinds of different junk food and more often than not get a bunch of presents from people that you only kind of know. So I was definitely a big fan of the holidays, it just happened to be this holiday that I hated. Or more accurately, this year. You see, even after five years of marriage and a few years of just being together before that, Dimitri and I had never quit gotten over wanting to be part of the cliched things that couples liked to do. You'd never guess it but Dimitri is really just a big kid at heart, so even after all of these years the reason that I now suddenly hated the New Years was simply this.

Dimitri and I wouldn't be able to kiss at midnight.

There! I said it! Call me crazy but I wanted to do the cliched kissing at midnight! I just think that it sets off a very positive start to the year, and after all of the crazy stuff that had happened to us over the years, a good start is something that we all need. But I wasn't the only one sulking over this. My best friend, sister, and occasional partner in crime Lissa was sitting right next to me bitching about the same thing. We had all planned to spend the New Years together like we did every year, but a few days ago Christian had gotten called away to some kind of conference about magic users that was held every year and this time around he had been selected. And believe me he wasn't any happier about it than we were.

Just because he was now the Queen's husband (yeah, that happened) and suddenly had people respect him, didn't change much, he still hated stuck up Royals as much as he had back at school. But it would make Lissa look bad if he declined so reluctantly he and Dimitri had gone off to the airport a few days ago and wouldn't make it back in time to spend New Years with us. So here Lissa and I were, siting in her room at five to midnight eating ice cream.

"This stinks," Lissa said as she ate another spoon full of cookies and creme ice cream. "I'm the queen, I should just be able to tell them that Christian had other important duty here and can't leave Court on such short notice."

"Sorry Liss, but I don't think that making boring and barely satisfactory love to you on New Years is exactly counted as an important task. Dimitri on the other hand, is _highly _capable of _many_ things and is definitely needed in the bed roo...um Court room," I said with a huge smile that I wasn't even trying to hide. Liss burst out laughing.

"Oh and the dirty talk begins. So what was the best time that you and Dimitri did it?" Lissa asked with a cheeky smile.

"Well that would have to be after I told him I was pregnant with mini you and just after he proposed," I smiled at the memory, it had been like he was trying to prove to me how happy he could make me for the rest of my life if I just kept my word and said I do.

"Well from that smile it must have been good indeed," Lissa said and ate another spoon full of ice cream.

"Well I won't bother asking you about yours because Dimitri's worst would still rock your world better than anything that the Moroi touch can muster," I said and got an elbow to the ribs for it.

"I wish that you wouldn't give Christian such a hard time, I know that your biased on Dimitri and that nothing will ever compare to him, but Christian loves me," Lissa said all mopey from missing him. I would make fun of her if I wasn't in the same boat.

"That may be true Liss, but it's not the fact that he loves you, it's the fact that-"

_"Guardian Hathaway,"_ I heard a voice in my head say. But it wasn't one of those crazy voices that tells you to burn things (I would leave that to Christian). It was my head piece that I kept on in case of emergencies.

"What is it Hans?" I asked snapping back into guardian mode.

_"We have a breech on the inside of the perimeter of the place. On the roof right on top of you. It's probably nothing, but what better time for an attack than with all of the celebrations going on,"_ Hans said thinking from past experiences and not sounding happy. _"And since you're the closest, I want you do do a quick perimeter check to make sure that the area is clear. Don't worry the Queen will be well protected I promise,"_ Hans said quickly after he realized that he was asking me to leave my post.

Now protocol said just to sit tight and protect Lissa, as her near guard. But she was already well protected and I was getting an order from the Head Guardian, so that kind of made the choice for me.

"I'm on my way. I'll report in after five minutes, if not then send back up," I said and told Lissa what was happening.

"Don't worry Liss, I'm a professional, no Strigoi can beat me," I said with a cocky smile and got up to check out the roof.

I walked up the stairs and opened the door for the roof with caution. Just because I was well in the safety of the wards and surrounded by other guardians was no reason to let my guard down. I hit the lights that were put in place for just this situation and the roof was lit up. With stake in hand, I walked around the roof looking for anyone that might be hiding behind something- when suddenly I saw a tall, thin figure dressed in all black running across the roof.

_Dam_. I ran after the figure while I pressed the button on the head set. "This is Guardian Hathaway on the main roof, I'm in pursuit of a suspicious person running in all black with a mask on. Unsure if it's a Strigoi or not, requesting back up," I said quickly and waited for a response. But after a few seconds I still hadn't gotten one. Weird. Maybe the fireworks were messing up the communications? It didn't matter, I would go after this guy alone.

At this point, I didn't think that whoever it was was a Strigoi, unless he was leading me in to an ambush because he was much too slow. He had just reach the end of the roof and didn't have anywhere else to go when I caught up to him.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I asked instead of just staking him. He was so close to the end of the roof and I didn't particularly want to go over the edge right now. Or ever.

"What not much of a talker?" I asked when he didn't say anything. Then suddenly I knew that there was someone else on the roof. Without looking, I did a spinning round house kick that was blocked mid swing by a guy that had to be either a Dhampir or a Strigoi because he was way too big to have been a Moroi. And why was everyone wearing masks all of a sudden? What did a Strigoi care if you saw their face? We were just going to kill you anyway.

Not forgetting the guy at my back, I turned my body so I could look at both of them out of the corner of my eye and raised up my stake. The big guy came at me and I blocked a punch then got in a hit with the butt of my stake. Then out of no where the other guy threw a fireball at me! I jumped out of the way and rolled along the roof to safety- for the moment.

"Where is that back up?" I shouted into my head piece as I got back up and looked at the little guy again. Ok fire. That meant either two things. Either this was a Moroi that was working with the Strigoi which was more than a little disturbing. Or the Strigoi had somehow found another way to get elemental powers back which was even worse.

But before I could find out the answer, the big guy came at me again trying to crush me in his big arms. I dodged him and went at his unprotected back but he saw that one coming and went for my unguarded ribs- but I saw that coming too. Damn this guy was good. He grabbed my hand and tried to twist me backwards, but I got out of it and turned it back on him. He used his strength to break the hold and tried to trip me with his long legs- but I jumped out of it and gave him a high kick that landed directly on his chest.

Having enough of playing with me he went for a full power punch that I dough anyone but me would have seen coming. Why does this guy's fighting style seem so familiar? Eventually his strength was too much and we were both on the floor grappling. He tried to use his size to pin me but I was so small and flexible that he couldn't hold onto me for long. I got the upper hand and was just about to stake him - and that was when I broke Dimitri's very first rule. The rule that I said that I would never break again after it landed me in a prison suite in Russia. I hesitated.

Because that's when I smelled it. Dimitri's aftershave.

No. No this couldn't be happening! You couldn't get turned twice! My heart was pounding like a drum but I had to know. I pulled off this guy's hood- and looked down in to the eyes of Dimitri. The same brown eyes that I loved. Not rimed with red.

He was smiling at me, one of his big full on smiles that I loved. And I couldn't see any fangs. But the look of love that was on his face was the best proof of all. Dimitri was still a Dhampir. Which means that he had a lot of explaining to do.

"What the hell Dimitri? I could have killed you!" I shouted and he just laughed.

"No doubt, but that's why I had Christian as back up," Dimitri said and I looked behind me to see that the first guy wearing the mask was in fact Christian.

"Some back up! I almost staked you! If it hadn't been for your after shave I would have!" I said getting up off of the ground.

"Well that and you knew my fighting style to well, I saw you tracking my moves and predicting what I would do next. I knew that you would figure it out," Dimitri said still wearing that stupid smile that I loved so much.

"What are you two even doing here anyway? I thought that you got called away, on that magic year thing," I said still angry that I almost staked my husband in the heart.

"It finished early, so we thought that we would come home and surprise you on New Year's Eve," Christian said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well it backfired!" I said and pressed the button on my head set. "False alarm, it was just Christian being an idiot. Not that any back up was sent in the first place," I said with attitude. If this had been a real threat they could have been over run by now.

"Hans was in on it to," Dimitri said from behind me. I turned around and looked him right in the eyes to see if he was telling the truth. He was.

"Why?" I asked still confused.

"As a reminder," Dimitri said as he came to stand closer to me. I noticed that Christian was walking back to the door, probably to go and see Lissa before midnight.

"One of our favorite memories was the field exam when you had to fight me like I was a Strigoi. I just wanted to do something special and recreate that memory," Dimitri said reaching out and putting his arms around my shoulders.

"So you went through all of this trouble because you were feeling nostalgic?" I asked. Thinking of it that way, it was actually kind of...sweet. And the fight really had been fun now that I think about it.

Dimitri nodded and put a hand on my waist.

"I just don't ever want us to forget what we shared back at the Academy and how we fell in love. So while not the safest idea, I think that this captured the moment perfectly," Dimitri said getting even closer.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked seriously. And he was right to, his plan could have seriously backfired! But part of the reason that we worked and fought so well together was because we could read each other so well. And he was counting on me figure it out before it was too late, he was putting his life in my hands. Which he did every time we went into a fight. So as messed up as this surprise had been, it actually had been sort of perfect for us.

"I'm not mad...well a little mad that you put yourself in harms way for all of this when all you really needed to do was show up in time to the kiss me at midnight."

Just then I heard someone announce that the countdown only had thirty seconds to go. Dimitri looked down at me with a smile.

"Well how about now?" he asked and we both laughed. Then we heard people counting loudly

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3..2...1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dimitri leaned down and kissed me, and what a kiss it was.

"Happy new year Roza," Dimitri whispered across my lips.

"Happy new year Comrade." And then we went back to our room to complete the memory of the last time that Dimitri had dressed up in all black and acted like a Strigoi. And it was a very happy start to the new year indeed. 

**Please review and Happy New Years to you all:) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hay guys and dolls. I know that not all of you will be interested in an Australia ****Day**** chapter but just give it a chance,I promise that it's really funny:) **

"_Happy new year Comrade." And then we went back to our room to complete the memory of the last time. That Dimitri had dressed up in all black and acted like a Strigoi. And it was a very happy start to the new year indeed. _

RPOV

I unlocked the door slowly and quietly. I didn't want to wake the kids up or I would spend the next hour putting them back to bed instead of doing what I wanted to do. Namely eating, showering and cuddling up in the arms of my sexy Russian, in that order. I shut the door behind me and headed to the kitchen in search for the food that I know Dimitri left out for me. I looked on the table and...aha! A nice big plate of lasagna and veggies. I licked my lips as I popped the plate into the microwave and watched it heat up.

"You know you will get cancer if you stand to close to that thing all the time." I heard a low and sexy voice say from behind me. I smiled and walked over and wrapped my arms around Dimitri's neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I gave him a long kiss hello not minding at all the change in my plans for the night. I would always want to be in my Comrade's arms.

"Hello to you too," I muttered keeping my voice just as low as his. "How was your day?" We had agreed to alternate who guarded and who stayed at home with the kids so neither one of us missed out on spending time with them, but still got to do the job that we loved.

"It was nice. Lissy's reading is getting better by the day and little Comrade is almost walking," Dimitri said with a proud smile. Lissy was now six and would start school soon. I was sad that my baby was growing up so fast, but at least I still had my little Comrade. And my big one for that matter, so we could always have more kids if we wanted.

"How was your day?" Dimitri asked walking over to get the food out of the microwave before it beeped and woke up the kids.

"It was...interesting," I said as I sat down and started shovelling food into my mouth at my normal fast pace.

"And what does "interesting" mean? Something good or bad?" Dimitri asked as he poured himself a glass of milk.

"Good. Just unexpected," I said smiling at him. I'm sure that he would love it, I was looking forward to it too. I just wanted to let him hang for a bit and watch him squirm.

"Roza," Dimitri growled in a voice that said that he knew exactly what I was doing.

"Ok, ok! Well today Adrian came in to see Lissa and to run an idea by her."

"And?"

"And he wants to take us all to Sydney this week so we can all see the city that our Sydney was named after," I told him finishing off my food and walking over to him to steal his milk.

"Sydney as in Sydney, Australia?" Dimitri asked, wide eyed.

"The very same. I told him that I would have to check with you and see if you were ok with it. And if you wanted to take the kids," I told him as I put my plate in the sink and went to have a shower.

"Why wouldn't I want to take the kids? I think that they would really enjoy seeing other places," Dimitri said trailing behind me.

"You're kidding me right? It's a hot little island in the middle of no where that is most famous for deadly things and a big rock! And don't you know their motto?" I asked looking back at him wide eyed.

"What motto?" Dimitri asked looking skeptically at me. He probably thought that I was just stereotyping Australia as a dead wasteland like I did to Russia. Except that back then it was an arctic wasteland.

_"Come to Australia, where almost everything can kill you!"_ I said in a fake cheery voice. I had serious concerns about taking my kids there.

"Come on Roza don't you think that you might be exaggerating just a bit? I'm sure that it's not that bad. I hear that it's actually a pretty highly ranked place for a holiday."

"Yeah you're right. We should take our kids to this barren wasteland where they would probably get killed by a kangaroo or attacked by a drop bear."

"I don't think that drop bears are actually real Roza," Dimitri said in a dry humorless voice.

"Well you will forgive me if I want to take precautions," I said, striping and getting into the shower.

"So does that mean that you want to go?" Dimitri asked striping down and joining me. Mmmmm if he was trying to convince me then he was going about it the right way...

"Maybe. Apparently Adrian picked this week because it's going to fall on their Australia Day. And there supposed to be all this big celebrations and fire works and stuff. And it would be nice to have a holiday. Not to mention, get a tan. It's summer over there and there's so much sun that you might actually need sunscreen," I laughed quietly as Dimitri started rubbing some body lotion onto me.

"I think that a family vacation is over due. But I'm surprised that Adrian wants to go to such a sunny place," Dimitri said as he turned around so I could start lathering him up with lotion.

"What can you do, he's smitten with Sydney and had too much money for his own good. So we're going?" I asked.

"I guess we are. And with so much sun shine we might even be able to relax for a bit. I'm sure that there aren't many Strigoi in Australia," Dimitri said from behind me.

"Well then we had better get some rest. It's going to be non stop with all of us and the kids going," I said as I headed off to bed. But Dimitri caught me around the waist.

"So are you to tired to talk about...seating positions... on the plane?" Dimitri asked in a low and sexy voice that had nothing to do with travel talk.

"Mmmm you know I might be up for talking about... _positions_," I said dropping the plane metaphor and swaying my hips a bit as I walked into the bedroom, Dimitri racing behind me.

After a ridiculously long flight with thankfully a sleeping one year old and a very distracted with her book five year old, we were here. Sydney, Australia. I looked out the window and couldn't help my shock. It looked nothing like I thought it would. I had watched Crocodile Dundee a few times and always thought that the dirt road air strip was what the Sydney airport looked like. But I was surprised to find it was as big and busy as any airport back home.

"See, I told you that it's not the stereotype wasteland that you thought it was," Dimitri said to me as we fastened our seat belts for landing. I had actually done some research on this place before we came here. But I hadn't been looking at the scenery or landscape. I had been doing research on all of the deadly and dangerous things that could kill us while we were here.

"Did you know that they have the funnel web spider here?" I asked Dimitri as I looked outside the window again.

"I'm sure that it won't be anywhere near where we're going Roza," Dimitri said in a bored tone like he had about every other fun fact that I had come up with.

"Well what about all of the snakes? Did you know that Australia has the most amount of deadly snakes in the world?" I challenged.

"That can't be true," Dimitri said thinking that I was exaggerating again.

"Is to!" I shouted and got something out of my bag. "This is a list I got off of the internet on venomous snakes!" I took out the list and shoved it in his face.

_Which snake species is the most venomous depends on the measure used. The average or the maximum venom yield from milking could be suggested, but these measures can be criticised as not reflecting the impact of a real bite. The measure generally acknowledged as best reflecting how dangerous a snake's venom is is that of LD50. The lower this number, the less venom is required to cause death. By that measure, the most venomous snake in the world is Australia's inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus). The table below gives the top 25 species in order, their LD50, and their distribution._

_ Snake Species LD50* Distribution_

_1\. Inland taipan 0.025 Australia_

_2\. Eastern brown snake 0.053 Australia_

_3\. Coastal taipan 0.099 Australia_

_4\. Tiger snake 0.118 Australia_

_5\. Black tiger snake 0.131 Australia_

_6\. Beaked sea snake 0.164 Australia_

_7\. Black tiger snake (Chappell Island ssp.) _

_0.194 - 0.338 Australia_

_8\. Death adder 0.400 Australia_

_9\. Gwardar 0.473 Australia_

_10\. Spotted brown snake 0.360 (in bovine serum albumin) Australia_

_11\. Australian copperhead 0.560 Australia_

_12\. Cobra 0.565 Asia_

_13\. Dugite 0.660 Australia_

_14\. Papuan black snake 1.09 New Guinea_

_15\. Stephens' banded snake 1.36 Australia_

_16\. Rough scaled snake 1.36 Australia_

_17\. King cobra 1.80 Asia_

_18\. Blue-bellied black snake 2.13 Australia_

_19\. Collett's snake 2.38 Australia_

_20\. Mulga snake 2.38 Australia_

_21\. Red-bellied black snake 2.52 Australia_

_22\. Small eyed snake 2.67 Australia_

_23\. Eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake 11.4 North America_

_24\. Black whipsnake 14.2 Australia_

_25\. Fer-de-lance 27.8 South America_

_*LD50: mg/kg in saline by subcutaneous injection in mice._

I saw Dimitri swallow.

"See," I said smugly.

"That's in the outback Roza, I'm sure that we are not going to run into an Inland Taipan on the Sydney beach," Dimitri said soothing my nerves.

"But what about jelly fish!" I said.

"What about them?" Dimitri asked in an exasperated tone.

"Australia had the box jelly fish! They're deadly!"

"We won't be going out very far, I'm sure that that won't bother us."

"Ok...well what about-"

"Oh give it a rest would you!" Christian said getting annoyed. "Australia might be deadly, but we're only going to be there for a week! If it was truly the death trap that you're making it out to be then there wouldn't be anyone left!"

"Be nice Christian, she's just worried about her kids," Lissa said looking at Alex.

"So onto happier thoughts. I can't believe that I convinced the Council to let me go on this trip!" Lissa shrieked across the aisle from me. We were on a Court private jet that Adrian had booked so even though the flight had been long, it was still nice and comfortable.

"Well that might have something to do with you saying that this was a business trip and that you were working with the Australian govermimt to try and send some of it's people over to the Academy to train," I said with a smile.

"Hey say what you want it's a good idea. Australians might not be a big as that 6'7 Russian that you've got there, but they're very tough and resourceful fighters. I might even be able to recruit some of them while were here. After all, we have a whole week." Lissa said thoughtfully. She never really stopped being the Queen. Except when she was a mother. I looked over at Alex playing with Lissy. They were so cute together.

"You can do whatever you want with you holiday. I just want to make this trip all about my Lilly girl," Adrian said kissing Sydney on the cheek.

"You really didn't need to go to all of this trouble Adrian. I would of been happy just watching the Australia movie instead. It had some nice scenery." Sydney said, but she was looking out the window with interest.

"Nothing but the best for you my dear," Adrian said with a love sick look in his face.

After we landed, we found our hotels. We were all staying at the same hotel but had different rooms. So we wouldn't interrupt each other with our...holiday activities. We were all getting comfortable in our rooms of the hotel when I looked outside at the view. It was a big one, our hotel was right by the beach and I could see for miles. And people were everywhere.

"Don't these people have work to go to?" I asked as I unpacked my suitcase and got the kids settled.

"Today's a public holiday. It's Australia Day. If you want I can tell you some of the activities that we have set up?" the hotel guy said as he helped us with our bags. He had sandy blong hair and a strong Australia accent.

"That would be nice," Dimitri said politely.

"Well there's an all day BBQ and a jumping castle for the kids. There's also face painting and a couple of beach cricket matches that you can join. There's also beach volleyball and all sorts of things. But the main event is tonight. There's a big concert with live music and entertainment before the sky is going to be lit up with fire works!" he said excitedly.

"Really! Like on the 4th of July?" Lissy asked jumping up and down a bit.

"You bet," he said winking at her. "But it's not just the sky. See the Sydney harbor bridge out there?" he asked and we looked out of the window. It was a huge bridge with a big arch.

"Well all of the fire works are going to be shooting from there and the bridge will light up and at the end, fireworks will actually shoot out from the bridge lighting it in fireworks, it's a real sight."

Wow, that did sound good.

"Thank you for the info," Dimitri said with a smile.

"No problem. I suggest that you just go down to the beach and just see what you find, or what finds you," he said with a smile and was off.

"Well he was friendly," I observed immediately not trusting him.

"I heard that most Australians are, but I read all that in a holiday site so they might have just been publicizing a bit," Dimitri said with a thoughtful look.

"Well, only one way to find out. Let's hit the beach."

We walked down and into the crowds on our own because the rest of the Moroi wanted to stay indoors until it got cooler. We of course left some Court guardians with them for safety though. I looked around at the people and saw that everyone was laughing and cooking things on the BBQ and the Australian flag was everywhere. And I mean everywhere! I looked up at the sky and saw a big plane dragging a flag that was twice as big as the plane across the sky and people cheering. I looked around and saw that half of the woman's and and men's swimmers had the Australian flag on them as well. And the kids were running around some with pointy hats that looked like card board cut outs of The Sydney Opera house. And with there faces all blue with the flag across them. Some with a small flag on their cheeks. And some with little kangaroos on them.

"Wow," was all I said.

"Can I get my face painted mummy!" Lissy begged.

"If we can find out where," I said and we started walking. After a while and passing at least twenty BBQ, I got really hungry. Hey it's me we're talking about here! Don't act so surprised.

"Can we got some food Comrade?" I asked as we passed another BBQ. They had sausages and stake and onion and tomatoes, eggs and shrimp and-

"There's a BBQ right next to the face painting, we can get some food there," Dimitri pointed out.

We walked over and stood in line for a bit until it was our turn.

Hay guys, what can I do for you?" said a nice girl holding a paint bush.

"Well Lissy wants to get her face painted and I'm hungry," I said smiling back.

"No problem. The food is free or a gold coin donation if you want," she said pointing over to the food.

"Gold coin?" I asked wondering what she was on about.

"Oh sorry you're American. Well over here we have one and two Dollar coins and they're gold, so we just say a gold coin donation and people just chuck in what coins that they have in their wallets," she said, smiling at us.

"Oh, well we don't have any coins, will they take America money?" Dimitri asked while I was still trying to wrap my head around the different money.

"Naaa don't worry about it. Just help yourself," she said and looked at Lissy.

"Now what face design would you like sweetheart?" she asked.

"Kangooooos," Lissy said or tried to say.

"Kangaroos it is," she said. I went to go and get the good smelling food.

"Hey mate what'll it be?"Asked an older man with an apron that said _'what's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?' _I laughed and asked him if I could have a big plate to share with my family.

"Sure thing, what would you like?"

"Some stake, sausages, onion, tomato, salad, eggs and shrimp," I asked licking my lips. Everything looked so good.

"Shrimp?" the guy asked giving me a funny look.

"Yeah, this bug looking thing," I pointed to them on the BBQ. He just laughed.

"Naa over here we call them prawns but sure help yourself," he said giving me a huge helping of everything. While he was serving me I decided to ask about some things that I found on the internet but didn't trust.

"Soooo, is there really such a thing as drop bears?" I asked reading his expression closely.

"Oh fair dinkum there is. I'd watch myself if I was you. They can tell if you're not a local," he warned me. I walked back to the tent only to find that my whole family had been covered in little green kangaroos.

"I thought that you did red kangaroos. Like on the plane," I said as I smiled at little Comrade. The girl laughed.

"No that's just the Qantas logo. Over here it's a green or gold kangaroo. Those are our colors, green and gold. Well at least for sports."

She told us that we could stay under the shade to eat if we wanted, so we did. But something was up with my food.

"Hey Dimitri, does your stake taste weird to you?" I asked him as I smelled it.

"Yeah it does. Maybe cows just taste different over here," he said shrugging.

"Well that's not cow you're eating. It's kangaroo," the face paint girl said with an amused look. I almost spat out my food.

"It's what?" I asked shocked.

"It's kangaroo meat," she said again with a smile.

"B-but aren't kangaroos like your national animal? How can you eat them?" I couldn't believe my taste buds.

"True. And it might not look it here because were in the city, but kangaroos are actually more of a pest here. They eat all of our crops. But we don't eat them all that much. The meat isn't very good," she said as she painted another kid's face.

"But they're so cute and cuddly. Like koala bears," I said still shocked.

"There's no such thing as koala bears. There just koalas. And if you touch one, they will scratch you to pieces," she said with a straight face. My world was spinning.

"Are koalas pests to?" I asked not knowing why.

"No not really, there aren't as many of them and they don't eat our crops or jump out in front of our cars."

"Do they really box like they do on TV?" Lissy asked.

"Yep. But only when they're threatened. You know my sister got punched in the arm by a kangaroo. But she had it coming. She tried to touch it's Joey."

I decided that I had had enough bomb shells dropped on me for now. So we thanked her for her help and then went down to watch a cricket game. And I got to say that it was more than a little different from what little I had watched on TV. When I saw it it was real professional and thought out. This was far more relaxed, with people laughing and diving in the sand and doing really easy shots for the kids that wanted to play. We must have looked a little lost because this young boy came up to us and asked if we wanted to play or know the rules.

"Well I saw it on TV, but what it this?" I asked gesturing to the players that were mucking around.

"Oh this is back yard cricket. It's the same but it's really just for fun."

"Hey, are drop bears real?" I asked hoping that the guy at the BBQ was pulling my leg. But the boy just shrugged his shoulders.

"I've never seen one. But you wouldn't in the city. Maybe in the country somewhere," he said before walking off. I just couldn't get a straight answer could I?!

Well it was nice to know that these people knew how to have fun. After we watched for a while longer, we walked alone the beach side shops to see if we could get some Australia Day souvenirs ...when I saw it. I couldn't help myself.

"Hey Comrade," I called out and got Dimitri's attention. "What do you think about me wearing this in the beach?" I asked and held it up. I saw Dimitri's eyes widen and darken at the same time.

"I think you would look more beautiful than normal Roza," he said in a low and husky voice. I decided to buy it and change in a bathroom that we found. I came out a few minutes later and the look on Dimitri's face was priceless. I was wearing a small deep blue bikini with the Australian flag on my breasts and butt. And Dimitri apparently liked what he saw, or judging from his drooling he did. Before I left the shop, I decided to ask the store girl.

"Are there really such a thing as drop bears?" she cracked up laughing,

"No ha no there's not. Or hoop snakes for that matter."

"What are hoop snakes?" I asked worried that I didn't research enough.

"It's this snake that bites onto it's own tail and goes in to a circle and chases after you," she said and I must have looked shocked because she just laughed again.

"Don't worry they're not real either." I didn't really know who to believe at this point so I just nodded and left the store. But not before getting some cute Australia day stuff for Lissy and Comrade.

We decided to go swimming because it would be a shame to come all the way to Australia and not get in the sea. We kept it shallow so the jelly fish didn't get us. Or the sharks for that matter. But it was still really fun. Dimitri went deep holding Lissy and showing her how to duck under a wave when it was too big to body surf. While I stayed on the beach and built sand castles with little Comrade. After an hour we switched and then I worked on my tan because it was still really sunny and it was already 6PM.

It was getting late and people seemed to be moving onto the beach near this huge stage that had been set up just for today. I guess that people wanted to get a good view. We decided to join them and sat down on a towel next to this nice looking old couple.

"G'day yoa mate welcome to staking kidney," the guy said to us with a smile. We looked at him blankly. Was he speaking Australian? Did they have their own language here?

"Ummm hi?" I said hoping that that was what he just said to us. But instead of answering, he burst out laughing. People did that a lot here.

"I'm sorry for my husband. He loves torturing the non locals. That was old Aussie slag for hello welcome to Australia," his wife said with a kind smile.

"So people don't really talk like that over here?" I asked hating every TV show that I ever saw that was based in Australia. Apparently it had all be wrong.

"Some do. But no not really. Is this your first visit? Or have you moved here?" she asked hitting her husband lightly when he didn't stop laughing.

"Just visiting," Dimitri said with a smile.

"Well you're in for a real treat when the fire works come. It's a real sight," the man said recovering from his laughing fit. Just then the band started playing a song called _"We will rock you."_ It was really catchy and I actually found myself singing along at the end. It was then followed by "_We are the champions,_" the one that was often sung at sport events. Then a man got up on stage and started talking about what Australia Day was all about.

"That's the main thing that we're all here for. And it's two words. Mate ship. When things get tough, we role up our sleeves and lend a hand to your mate. And that's what this next song is about. It's called "True Blue." And he started singing.

_Hey True Blue, don't say you've gone_

_Say you've knocked off for a smoko_

_And you'll be back la-ater on_

_Hey True Blue, Hey True Blue_

_Give it to me straight, face to face_

_Are you really disappearing_

_Just another dy-ying race_

_Hey True Blue_

_True Blue, is it me and you_

_Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo_

_Is it standin' by your mate when he's in a fight_

_Or just Vegemi-ite_

_True-ue-ue Blue, I'm a-asking you_

_Hey True Blue, can you bear the load_

_Will you tie it up with wire_

_Just to keep the show on the road_

_Hey True Blue_

_Hey True Blue, now be Fair Dinkum_

_Is your heart still there_

_If they sell us out like sponge cake_

_Do you rea-eally care_

_Hey True Blue_

_True Blue, is it me and you_

_Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo_

_Is it standin' by your mate when she's in a fight_

_Or just Vegemi-ite_

_True-ue-ue Blue, I'm a-asking you..._

_True Blue, is it me and you_

_Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo_

_Is it standin' by your mate when he's in a fi-ight_

_Or just Vegemi-ite_

_True-ue-ue Blue, True-ue-ue Blue_

People were crying by the end and everyone seemed to know the song. I was surprised to see that Dimitri was really moved too.

"What's the look comrade?" I asked bumping his shoulder.

"The song. It's kind of what it's like to be a guardian only it's not. We're always told that they come first. But here it's your mate. You look out for each other and are there when your friend needs you. It's just nice is all."

That surprised me a bit. But really he was right. How much better would our race be if we all just looked after each other instead of thinking that our lives were pointless and to be thrown away when the Moroi wanted them to.

"Well hey, my all but blood sister just happens to be the Queen. Maybe I can change that a bit," I said to cheer Dimitri up. It seemed to work as his full on smile came onto his face.

"Is it time for the fire works yet mummy?" Lissy asked.

"Soon baby. We need to meet up with the others first," I texted Adrian and Lissa and we all met up at a high spot on the beach to see the fire works.

"Hey Liss how was your day," I asked after we all met up.

"Confusing! Did you know that people don't say "g'day mate" as a greeting? Only some do and mostly only on Australia Day!" Lissa said shocked.

"I know! And they don't call them shrimp here. They're prawns!" I said back.

"And no matter who I ask I can't get a straight answer on the whole Drop bear thing! Are they real or not?" Lissa screamed.

"Well what about spiders and snakes? I haven't seen one since I got here! I thought that this place was supposed to be crawling with them?" I asked both happy that my family didn't get hurt and upset that I did all that research for nothing.

"And where are the boomerangs? I haven't seen one here like at all!" Lissa continued.

"Any they eat kangaroo meat here! I though that that would be illegal or something!"

"They eat emu meat here too! And they don't even like it! It's to oily!"

"TV has been lying to us!"

"Are you getting any of this?" Christian muttered to Dimitri.

"Every other word or so," Dimitri muttered back.

"Alright everybody! Now I want to hear a nice big count down, are you ready?" a man shouted and got a roar in response.

"Ok then

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

BANG!

And then the sky opened up! There were fire works everywhere. Different sizes and shape and colors, it was just like back home. The Sydney harbor lit up and fire works started shooting out of it! I don't think that I have ever seen anything quite like it. After about five minutes there was the biggest one of all. Then every started cheering and kissing each other. I looked over at Dimitri and smiled.

"Happy Australia Day Comrade."

"Happy Australia Day Roza." I dimly heard the other two couples say the same. Then Dimitri leaned in and gave me a kiss. It was a very nice holiday indeed.

**Well there you go. I hope that I answered some of you questions about us Aussies. I'm sorry that there wasn't much Strigoi action but I still hope that you liked it. Happy Australia Day for 2015 **


	4. Chapter 4

**Well you all wanted it. So here's my Valentine's day special. Enjoy. I don't own VA. **

"_Happy Australia Day Comrade." _

_"Happy Australia Day Roza." I dimly heard the other two couples say the same. Dimitri then leaned in and gave me a kiss. It was a very nice holiday indeed. _

The 14th of February

No matter where you go, all over the world, it means the same thing. It's the international day of love. (Sorry if it's not! Didn't mean to offend!) and every year it means the same thing. Flowers, chocolates, jewelry, declarations of love, romantic dinners and even marriage proposals. Sometimes all at once.

And for most of my life, I spent that day resenting it all. All of the lovey dovey couples that couldn't keep their lips to themselves and making me watch their happiness. Every year it was all the same, and once I got taken back to the Academy it get even worse. Because not only did I have to watch everyone else be happy with the one that they loved, but I had to sit through feeling all of Lissa's and Christian's love while being denied my own. And then losing it all before we even got a real chance to be together. And then after all of that, we have to go through even more crap to top it all off.

So you could say that Valentine's Day was not on my top ten most celebrated lists. But that was before I got to spend it with my big sexy Russian lover Dimitri. Every year after we got together we would always do these big romantic things together on Valentine's day and not care how corny or cliched it was. Because we were celebrating the fact that we one; that we could actually be together after everything that we went through.

Now I know that there are some people who think that Valentine's day is just another holiday for the gift card shops to make easy money. Or that you should spend everyday showing the person that you were with that you loved them and not just one day of the year. And you know what? They're right! It is a made up holiday for people to make more money and sell things. And you should definitely spend more than just one day of the year showing the person that you're with that you love them.

But guess what else? Who cares?!

After everything that has happened, if Dimitri and I feel like acting like a couple of love sick teenagers and showering each other in love for one specific day of the year then who's to stop us? Every day throughout the entire year we always go out of our way to make sure that the other one feels happy and loved. And we know that making a relationship and marriage work is a full time job. But that doesn't mean that we can't just go nuts and show it more than normal on one day of the year.

And that's exactly what we did. Or rather what Dimitri did. Because no matter how much I plan or how hard I try, I never managed to do more on Valentines day then get sexy lingerie and make Dimitri eyes roll around to the back of his head. And I did that on a regular basis anyway. Every time that I booked work off, I got called in. Every time that I tried to make dinner, it burned. Every time that I wanted to go out and do something fun, I was always pregnant or had just had the baby and didn't feel like doing much. So I always ended up dropping the ball.

But Dimitri was always amazing at picking it up again. Even on the rare occasion that I manage to do something romantic and exciting, Dimitri would always find a way to merge it with what he had planned so it turned out even more amazing than before. And on the years that I didn't plan anything he had even more fun spoiling me rotten. It was like he couldn't ever get tired of showing me how much he loved me. And I was all for letting him express it.

But this year I had a plan. I had called in a favor and asked everyone that I knew to keep an eye out for whatever Dimitri was doing so that I could either cancel it or change my plan to match it. This year I was going to romance him. And it was all coming together now.

It started a few months ago when I called Dimitri's mother, she started giving me cooking lessons over the web cam. I was determined to learn how to cook Dimitri's favorite dish so that I could surprise him. And at first the results had not been pretty. I had almost burned down the house more than a few times. And had more often then not been left with a pile of charcoal in the oven instead of _Cusina Sana_. But Olena had been patient and kind with me and I really had gotten better. Now my food was eatable!...well mostly.

I had got the day off and made sure that Dimitri didn't, so I had been cooking up a storm all day and was rewarded with a rather appetising looking plate of Cusina Sana. Which I was sure that Dimitri would love for dinner. And for desert...yep you guessed it. Black bread. I quickly added a little more seasoning to the marinated vegetables that I was cooking in the oven and put it back in. After shutting it off, I made double sure of that this time, to keep it warm and good for when we came back. I checked the pot of strew and pasta and it was good to go.

I had arranged a special surprise for Dimitri when he came home. I smiled and went to my room to get ready. I had arranged for the kids to spend the night with Mikhail and Sonya, who had assured me that I wouldn't be ruining their plans for the night, so Dimitri and I had the whole night and the next morning together. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was almost time for Dimitri to get home.

I had my spies working over time and they had assured me that he hadn't been anywhere out of the ordinary or been seen talking to someone that could be doing something special for him. So he was on his way home right now! No doubt holding a big box of chocolates and violets. He had been working a lot lately and hadn't had time to do much else, so I suspected that he also had a little surprise of his own in store for me that he had managed to get away from my spies. But hopefully it didn't get in the way of my plans.

I gently laid out the clothes that I wanted Dimitri to wear and went down stairs as I heard the keys in the door. I went downstairs and smiled at the sight in front of me.

"Happy Valentine's day Roza," Dimitri said holding a box of chocolates and violets. Did I know my man or what? ...or did he know me? Ah who cares!

"Oh you wonderful man," I said as I stepped forward and give him an eager welcome home kiss.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't do much else, work has been crazy, as you know. But so long as we get to spend the day together then that's all that mat- what are you wearing?" Dimitri finished with a little frown.

"Oh nothing much," I said causally. I was wearing a pair of old but warm jeans and a plain long sleeved shirt. Which was a little too warm for just hanging out inside, but would be good once we left for my surprise. **(I don't know the weather over there but let's just say that it's cold out but not freezing)**

"You will need to get changed into something like this too. But don't worry, I already laid the clothes that you will need on the bed," I said with a cheeky smile as I ate one of the chocolates that he got me.

"What are you up to Roza? And where are the kids?" Dimitri asked with a frown. But I could see the glint in his eyes.

"With Sonya and Mikhail. And you will just have to wait and find out," I said and left him at the door. I heard him going upstairs and smiled, so far so good.

DPOV

I quickly got dressed in the warm clothes that Roza picked out for me before heading downstairs. I didn't know whether to be happy or scared that Roza had apparently planned out the whole night. I loved her to pieces but sometimes her ideas of fun tended to be more on the wild or illegal side. But I decided that it was Valentine's day and to just let Roza have fun with whatever she planned.

I didn't have a clue as to what Roza had planned for me right now. But I knew one thing was for certain. I knew what she had planned for me later tonight...

"All set?" Roza asked me waking me up from my daydream of Roza wearing something provocative and scandalous and what we would be doing once we got home and gave her a warm smile.

"I would feel better if you would let me at least take some extra weapons and our passports in case we have to go on the run again. But other then that? Yes I'm ready for whatever you have planned." _Famous last words!_

"Alright then come on," Roza said with a smile and we headed outside. We walked for a bit and I realized that we were headed to the more forest side of Court. Maybe she planned a picnic? No it was to cold out for that. So what were we doing in the park at night?

I only got more confused as we approached the lake. It was late in the Moroi day so it was still dark out. And that's way the sight before me looked so beautiful.

All of the surrounding trees were full of little ferry lights that lit up the lake area with a soft romantic light. Wait! She didn't want to go skinny dipping did she? I knew that I was Russian and could handle the cold, but that didn't mean that I would like it! And Roza may think that it's sexy now but when she sets one foot in the water she wouldn't be smiling for long!

I was just about to ask her if that was the plan...when someone approached us. I got into a slight crouch out of habit but stopped when I saw who it was.

"Hey Mia," Roza said with a smile. "Thanks for doing this for me. I promise that I won't keep you from Eddie too long," Roza said with a wink. Well it was Valentine's day, so it's not like it was hard to guess what the majority of couples would be doing.

"You had better not!" Mia said with a small smile. Then she walked over to the water and put her hand in it. Instantly the water began to freeze! Soon the entire lake was frozen and solid enough to walk on. (I'm Russian. I know my ice)

"Well what are you waiting for Comrade?" Roza asked from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see her slipping on some ice skating shoes. Well I guess that this is why she got me to dress warm. I walked over to her and grabbed the pair that she had for me. She must have gotten Mia to bring them here so I wouldn't catch on.

"Well if that's all for tonight I need to get beck to my man. Have a good night," Mia called out as she left.

"So this was your big secret?" I knew that she had been cooking something up for a few days now. But I had had know idea what. Well as least this wasn't as bad as any of the scenarios that I had come up with.

"Yep. Didn't see this one coming did you?" Roza said with a dazzling smile.

"Well since it's too warm for outdoors ice skating, no. I had no idea that this was coming. It's a very nice surprise _milaya_," I told her and pulled her in for a long kiss. I was actually starting to get a little too warm before I broke it off. If we kept this up then we wouldn't make it to the ice lake. We got up and I held Roza's hand as she stepped onto the ice. She hadn't grown up surrounded by ice like me so she was going to have to start out slowly.

"Have you ever ice skated before?" I asked after we were both on the ice and started to move.

"Once or twice. But it's been a long tim...!" she said as she almost fell but rightened herself at the last minute. "As you can tell," she said through her laughter. I took her hand and started leading her.

"Push off slightly with the foot that's on the ground. Then slide the next one down and start over again. Like this." I showed her the move and she copied. With our constant training and her Dhampir reflexes, she picked it up in no time. Soon we were racing around the edge of the lake and laughing our heads off. Roza even managed to lift one foot off the ice and lean forward like the ice skaters on TV.

"Ha! Not bad for a girl that has barely spent any time on the ice!" Rose laughed as we came together to do some slow and romantic skating.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Roza. You've always been a quick learner," I said with a smile.

"Well except for in the kitchen. But that's where you come in," Rose said with a smile and a wink.

"For good reason! The kitchen still smells like smoke!" I said remembering Rose's last attempt at cooking.

"Well it's a good thing that I'm pretty enough to get a man that is good in the kitchen and the bedroom," Roza said with her 'man eater smile' and I almost tripped over my own feet and Roza laughed. I know after all the years that we've been together I should be used to Roza being so open with our sex life. But sometimes it still caught me by surprise. At least we were alone this time.

"Yes. Your beauty and...other talents definitely make up for your lack of cooking skills," I said teasing her back just to show her that I could.

"Oh my Comrade, how I've corrupted you," Roza said in a sultry voice.

"I think we've rubbed off on each other," I said shaking my head. Wondering yet again how I got so lucky.

"Well if we head home then I can show you just how much we CAN rub off on each other," Rose said, the double meaning in her voice clear. I gave her a mischievous grin.

"I like the sound of that," I told her and we went to the edge of the lake and took off our ice skates. We had been here for about two hours anyway and I didn't want to risk the ice getting too thin and breaking it. It was cool out but no where near enough to keep the lake frozen for too long.

I started giving Roza little kisses on her hand. Then her head and neck and the spot behind her ear. Just showing her a preview of what was to come for tonight. When we finally got home I was expecting Roza to attack me and start tearing my clothes off, but she didn't. She just unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen.

Did she want to do it in the kitchen tonight just to shake things up? Or was she hungry and wanted me to make her something to eat first? I followed her anyway because I was sure that that was what she wanted. But what I saw wasn't what I expected.

The table was all set. There was a white table cloth that my mother had given me for special occasions. The table was set with a matching plate and glass set that I was sure was new. And there was two long candles that Roza was lighting.

"When did you do all of this?" I asked shocked. I had only been about thirty seconds behind her!

"Before you got home. Take a seat, dinners all ready."

I did what she said and sat down and watched as Roza finished lighting the candles. Was this a trick? Was Roza going to pull out a pizza from the microwave? Or have Chinese delivered? I was worried that she had tried to cook again. But I was beyond shocked when she opened up the oven and brought out a pot of _Cusina Sana _that was simmering in there. Where had she lerned how to cook that?

She couldn't have gotten it from the internet. She had tried a few YouTube classes, even read cooking for dummies and she still set fire to almost anything that she touches! She must have read the shocked look on my face because she started laughing.

"Surprised that this is still in one piece? And not charcoaled?" Roza asked as she set the food down in front of me. It sure smelt good.

"Well...I am a little surprised that you managed to pull this off. It isn't the easiest dish to prepare. How did you do it?" I asked as I watched her serve it up and set some on my plate.

"I've been web chatting with your mother," Roza said with cheeky smile.

"Really? For how long?" I asked as I took a cautious bite. It tasted good!

"For a few months now. I felt bad that it was always you how did the big romantic stuff in our relationship. So I figured that it was my turn," Rose said as she sat down and started to eat.

"So what did you do with all of the failed attempts?" I asked because I knew that there was no way that Roza could make this dish edible right off the bat.

"Well at first I did it over at Lissa's and Sparky's kitchen so you wouldn't smell my burnt failures. And then I started giving it to someone's dog that always walked by our place in the afternoons. Then once it got good enough I tried to gave it away to friends. But unfortunately my reputation for not being able to cook has spread, and the only ones that I could make/ threaten to eat my food were Eddie, Mia, Sonya and Mikhail. Then I finally got good enough to give it to you," she said giving me a deep and loving look. I leaned forward across the table and captured her lips.

"Thank you _Lubov moya_. The effort that you put into this makes it all the more important to me. I love you," I whispered across her lips.

"Hearing you say that makes it all worth it." She smiled back. I ate my dinner with great satisfaction, savoring the taste that my Roza had gone to so much trouble to get right.

"Are you ready for your surprise now?" I asked Roza. It had been tricky. I had managed to pull off something special this year.

"Surprise?" Roza asked shocked. She really thought that I wouldn't do something for her besides by her chocolates and flowers?

"Look at your stake," I told her with a cheeky smile.

"Oh no. Oh no no no, there is no way that you managed to do something to my stake without me knowing about it!" Roza said as she got up and took the stake out of her coat pocket. And sure enough she saw what I had engraved this morning before she woke up.

_Use this to protect your heart, so that mine can keep beating. _

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Then she ran over to me and gave me a wild and passionate kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered across my lips.

"My pleasure."

We went back to eating after that and after I ate my fill I was just about to get up and show Roza exactly how much I appreciated all of her efforts. When she suddenly asked me something.

"Ready for dessert?" she said with a twinkle in her eye. I nodded and she got up and pulled something else out of the oven.

"Black bread," she said with a smile and started cutting up the loaf. She was perfect. The black bread was delicious and I ate at least half the loaf by myself! And Roza ate the other half, which I was expecting.

"Now, you just sit right here and come up to our room in about ten minutes. No peaking," she said with a wink. I think I knew what my next Valentine's day present was going to be!

**Happy Valentine's day 2015 :) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry I'm late guys and dolls! But I was to busy at Easterfest to wright! Anyway better late then never! **

_"Now, you just sit right here and come up to our room in about ten minutes. No peaking," she said with a wink. I think I knew what my next Valentine's day present was going to be!_

"I heard something over here!" I heard one of my pursuers shout uncomfortably close to where I was hiding and decided to make a run for a new hiding place. As I ran through the woods, I couldn't help but think back on the events that led us to this. Who would have thought that a simple Easter get away would have turned into such a mess?

_Two days ago _

"...and Hans said that that would be an _interesting idea_," I said. Lissa and I were bursting out laughing over my latest run in with Hans and my Rose logic. It was his own fault really, I mean who suggests that Guardians start walking around with fake guns to see how well the public reacts to it to see if they should bring in real guns as a safety precaution if he doesn't want at least someone to suggest that they should be water guns so that we can at least have a little fun with some innocent bystanders?

"Oh Rose you are bad," Lissa laughed as she recovered from her laughing fit.

"Well he had it coming rea- Comrade down!" I shouted as I spotted little Comrade trying to climb the throne that Lissa sat in for photo shots and special queenly occasions. He tended to take after me in the eating department and knowing my luck, his hands were covered in chocolate. And the last thing that I needed was for people to ask "_Why does the Queen have chocolate on her butt?_" at the next royal board meeting or something else stupid like that!

I quickly grabbed my squirming one and a half year old and gently shushed him to get him to stop crying. Lissa walked over and started playing peek-a-boo to distract him.

"Mama what's this word!" Lissy called out as she ran over to me holding up one of her many books that Dimitri seemed to produce out of thin air. It was supposed to be Dimitri's time off at home looking after the kids but he had been called in for a special mission and needed to drop everything and go, so of course I had picked up the slack and stayed at home to look after our children, but Lissa had begged me to come in because she was sick of all of the other Guardians being so proper with her. Even after all this time, they still felt the need to be in assembly whenever she was in the room.

So I caved as I so often do whenever Lissa needed anything from me and had gotten ready and taken my kids to go and see Aunty Lissa at work.

"Lissa could you take a look?" I asked as I tried to settled down little Comrade.

"No! I want you muma!" Lissy demanded. She was normally so easy to handle, but ever since her sixth birthday last week, she had entered into a demanding phase. Dimitri had read up on it and said that it would pass soon and that she was just reacting this way because she would be starting school soon and was likely just scared to be leaving us for a few hours each day.

I handed Little comrade over to Lissa, or tried to-

"No!" It was one of the words that he had learned and mastered and he used it as often as possible.

"Come on sweetheart, just go over to Aunty Lissa for a minute-"

"Mama!" Lissy cried as I finally got little Comrade over to Lissa and crouched down to see the word that Lissy was having trouble with.

"That says quirky, it's another word for funny or strange," I explained and Lissy seemed satisfied with that explanation and went back to reading.

I turned back and saw that Comrade was settled again and that Lissa was humming to him softly.

"Thanks Liss, it's hard being a mum and being a Head Royal Guard at the same time. But I just hate getting babysitters and leaving them with people for long. It feels too much like when my mum abandoned me at the Academy when I was young," I said as we sat back down on the crouch with Comrade crawling over to sit on my lap.

"I know what you mean, Christian and I only have Alex and he's a handful as it is - how much sleep have you been getting?" Lissa asked as she watched me yawn for about the tenth time since I got here.

"Probably about as much as you," I said but that was a lie. The truth is I was running on only a few hours sleep now that Dimitri was away. I don't know how the single mums do it; I needed Dimitri to help keep me sane and to share the workload with. I was glad that he was coming back tonigh.

"Uh huh," Lissa said not buying it. "I think that you need a break," Lissa declared suddenly as she saw my eyes droop as I cuddled Comrade close to me hoping to get him down for a nap.

"What? No Liss, you know that I don't trust anyone else to guard you -"

"You trust Eddie just fine when it's your turn to stay home with the kids," Lissa argued back determined to win this argument.

"That's because Eddie cares for you almost as much as I do. And it doesn't matter anyway becaue he's off with Mia on the same Offensive Magic trip as your lover boy," I said determined not to need Lissa's charity just because I was basically her sister.

"And they're all coming back tonigh along with _your_ lover boy. And the Easter holidays are just around the corner!" Lissa said starting to bounce up and down getting excited about the idea of doing something nice for me. "Oh you and Dimitri could go away! Just the two of you on a nice romantic getaway. Christian and I could look after the kids! Oh it's perfect!"

"Lissa, I'm not sure why I need to remind you of this. But you're the QUEEN! You can't just drop everything babysit!" I said rejecting the idea right away.

"Oh come on! You're always saying that you don't want strangers taking care of your kids, well we're pretty much family! You get a holiday and I get to spend time with my niece and nephew, it's win win!" Lissa said not backing down. She could be surprisingly stubborn when she wanted to be. Realizing that Lissa wasn't going to take no for a answer, I decided to try and shift the decision on my darling husband.

"I'll talk about it with Dimitri," I said just to get her off my back. There was no way that I was taking away Lissa's Easter holidays with looking after my kids.

"You had better," Lissa said letting it go for now as I turned my attention back to Comrade and noticed that he was sucking on my finger. That was basically him saying that he was hungry. Which meant that he would need changing again soon. Ugh maybe a holiday wouldn't be so bad after all...

"When's Papa coming home?" Lissy asked as she finished her book and instantly became bored again. "And why won't Comrade stop shouting?!"

"Because he's just a baby and can't tell me what he wants," I said, while trying to shush him.

"Well he doesn't have to act like it! And when's daddy getting home!?" Lissa asked again as I was fixing Comrade's bottle. I was trying to get Comrade down for bed but he was screaming and wasn't settling very well. It was almost six and Dimitri said that if everything went according to plan ,he would be home by seven or eight.

"In a few hours," I said.

"But that's SOOOO far AWAY!" Lissa said sulking.

"Well it's not going to come by any faster with you acting like your baby brother," I said because I didn't care what Dimitri or the internet said. I wasn't going to just let her get away with acting like this. But I also watched in amusement at the face that she pulled and the way she started arguing.

"AM NOT!"

"AM NOT!" Little comrade cried out after her and I burst out laughing. Lissy was about to launch into another argument about how she was nothing like her brother because she didn't smell when we heard a noise at the door.

"I'm home!" called out a beautiful voice laced with a Russian accent.

"DADDY!" Lissy cried and launched herself into Dimitri's waiting arms.

"How's my girls going?" he asked kissing Lissy's forehead.

"Muma said that I was acting like Comrade!" Lissa accused, shooting me a look that said that I was being mean.

"Did she? Well do you know why that might be?" Dimitri asked with a slight smile that said he knew exactly why I had done that.

"I just wanted to know when you were getting home!"

"Uh huh. Well maybe you should ask in a different way next time," Dimitri chuckled and put Lissy down and walked over to pluck Comrade out of my arms and give me a deep kiss.

"Eeeww! That's gross!" Lissy cried while Comrade giggled.

"Comrade doesn't think so," I said smiling.

"That's because he's just a baby!" Lissy shouted and then realized what she said. Good, maybe now she would stop with the tantrums.

"Ok Lissy, I want you changed and in bed in five minutes or I won't come and read you a bedtime story," Dimitri said and Lissy was out of the room before he could even finish speaking. And Comrade had settled down now that he was in the arms of his father.

"I wasn't expecting you home for a while yet," I said moving in close for a hug. He didn't go away all the much anymore, but when he did I missed him a lot.

"Christian wanted to get back to Lissa, and when a Royal wants something they usually get it," he said moving away to finish getting Comrade his bottle so that he could put him to bed and come back to me.

"Well you won't hear me complaining," I said kissing him again. It was getting a little heated and I was really looking forward to continuing it in the bedroom... When suddenly a loud voice cried out.

"I'm in bed!"

Dimitri chuckled and whispered, "Later," across my lips before going up to read to Lissy. I finished putting Comrade to bed and went upstairs to put on something... nice for Dimitri as a welcome home surprise and quickly made the bed and dimmed the lights before I sprawled out on it and made myself look even more tempting.

A few minutes later and I heard Dimitri's footsteps outside and the sound of him slowly opening the door.

"Are you tired Roza-" he asked before cutting himself off. He stood there looking at me, his eyes going dark as he looked over my scantily clothed body.

"Dose this answer your question?" I asked and curved my finger in a 'come here' motion. And that was all the encouragement that Dimitri needed.

After properly welcoming Dimitri home, I laid cuddled up close to Dimitri's side soaking in his warmth as he traced light patterns on my back.

"I spoke to Lissa before I came home," Dimitri muttered into the quiet.

"Hmm?" I replied as I kissed one of his pectorals.

"She said that she wanted to take the kids for the Easter holidays and for us to have a break. Maybe go out for a night to one of the local Easter festivals."

"Yeah she mention that to me as well. I tried to say no. I don't need any special treatment just becaue I have two kids to look after. We manage quite well on our own," I said moving so I could have eye contact with him.

"That may be so _milaya_, but that doesn't mean that you're not entitled to a holiday every once and awhile. Wasn't your last day off after you recovered from giving birth to Comrade?" Dimitri asked raising one eyebrow.

"Yes...but that doesn't prove anything!" I said quickly and Dimitri laughed.

"Come on Roza, we will go away for the long weekend, go to a festive, stay in a nice hotel, have lots of fun and then come home and get back to our work. What's the worst that could happen?"

Present time

_What's the worst that could happen?_ Well I don't know. Maybe we could get spotted having our guards down by some Strigoi with a grudge? And than maybe single handedly get the whole festival jumped on by Strigoi!? And on top of all of that, get separated _and _chased into the woods by those same Strigoi!

I swear that after we get out of this, I was going to make Dimitri eat his words!

I decided to quickly climb up a tree and jump from branch to branch like I did all those years ago at the school. The Strigoi wouldn't be expecting that and I might be able to get a drop on one of them. I looked around and soon found a big one with enough low hanging branches that I would be able to climb it quickly. I ran up and threw myself at the closest branch and set to work.

But I had only make it up about halfway when I heard a noise below me. I looked down and saw that it was a team of two Strigoi. I softly cursed. I wasn't up as high as I would have liked, but I couldn't keep climbing with them right below me, so throwing caution to the wind, I gripped the stake that I always kept on me (I may be off duty but that didn't mean that I had left my brain, or my stake at home!) and jumped down on top of them! I quickly staked the first one before she even knew what was happening and landed a few good blows on the second before he managed to get his guard up. We danced around for a bit until I finally got an opening and went in for the kill.

That taken care of, I went back the way I came and started looking for Dimitri. Some holiday this turned out to be!

I was getting a little worried when I didn't find him right away, we had only been separated for a few minutes! But I told myself that Dimitri was a Royal Guardian just like me and could handle himself just fine...until I heard grunts of pain that I recognized and started sprinting.

I came up in a clearing and saw Dimitri fighting off five Strigoi at ones. He may be good, but those were not odds that you wanted to bet on! I ran in and jumped over the first one to get at Dimitri's back. We didn't say anything to each other, nothing was needed. Cover each other's backs, kill the Strigoi, and make sure to come back safe and sound to the other. Simple.

Except that all of the Strigoi were shutting me out and ganging up on Dimitri! They were keep all their backs to me and I couldn't get a stake to their hearts that way! So all that left me was distraction duty, something that I was quite skilled at, while Dimitri picked them off one by one.

"You would think that by now even the _stupidest_ Strigoi would be able to come up with something a little bit more original than divide and conquer," I said and got shot a few death glares for it. "Didn't the Japanese start using that one like 5000 years ago? Time for a new strategy I think." And that was enough to make one of them lose their concentration which let Dimitri stake another Strigoi.

"Then again they would have to be pretty _dumb_ in the first place to think that they could take down either one of us alone with just five of them."

"Shut up you little-" Dead!

"Oh look! Now they're down to three. Well I bet that this wasn't how you planned this little ambush to end now was it? And there goes another one. Down to two now. You know it might be a good idea to consider surrendering. But were really not into taking prisoners so-"

"I swear that if you don't shut up this instant!-" And down to one.

"Swearing isn't very ladylike, or so I keep hearing," I said as I snake up and got the last one.

This wasn't the first time that Strigoi had tried to divide and conquer. It hadn't worked all of the other times and it sure wasn't going to work this time. After Dimitri cleaned them up, we were standing back to back looking for more in a matter of minutes.

But it became obvious that that was all.

"_What's the worst that could happen?_" I asked in to the silence trying to scowl at him, but a small smile was breaking through. This happened way too much.

"Yeah I should have learned by now not to tempt fate like that when you're involved huh?" Dimitri said, his own smile breaking through.

"What are you smiling about?" There was no way that he found this funny. He took me by the hand and started leading me towards something.

"It's just that I'm suddenly getting a feeling of déjà vu," he said still smiling.

"Why?"

"Oh, just the two of us running through the woods, finishing Strigoi..." he said and then moved a low hanging branch out of the way so that I could see where he was leading me. "Making love in a cabin in the woods...oops that's actually what's about to happen," he said and I looked in front of us at a small but clearly beautiful cabin just like the one that we had made love in the first time at St Vlad's sitting in front of us. This must have been the reason why Dimitri had been so insistent that we come to this particular town to celebrate Easter. And why he had wanted to go out into the woods.

"Oh Dimitri! It's wonderful."

Then Dimitri chuckled again and I got the feeling that it wasn't because of the look in my face.

"What this time?" I asked with a real smile coming in my face.

"It's just, all this fighting in the woods, and the cabin and us together like this," He said and paused for dramatic affect and pulled me close before whispering.

"It's just like old times."

Then we kissed and headed into the cabin to add some more memories to our _just like old items._

**Ha! Sorry I just couldn't help myself!. When you've done as much fics as I have you get a bit nutty at the end;) happy Easter to you all:)**


	6. Chapter 6

_Mother's Day special _

_"Now, you just sit right here and come up to our room in about ten minutes. No peaking," she said with a wink. I think I knew what my next Valentine's day present was going to be! _

Mother's Day.

It used to be one of my most avoided days of the year. And as a Dhampir, I wasn't exactly the only one with that opinion. Most of us were only the result of a one night stand with some Moroi pig and weren't brought up in a stable home to begin with. And only ever grew up with one parent if we were lucky, and that was usually the mother. But that didn't necessarily mean that that relationship was good. It was either dump us at an Academy to be trained or raise us in a blood whore community. Neither option screamed stable childhood and good relationship with parents.

A lot of the kids back at the Academy were like me and didn't see their mums all that much. But me? I didn't see her at all. Out of the entire Academy, my mum was the most absent one around, so I had naturally always hated Mother's Day.

Until I become a mother myself that is.

Now every year, I couldn't wait for that day to come around, because I had not only one, but two beautiful babies to celebrate it with.

Every year, Lissy would spend hours and a small fortune in glitter, glue and shiny things making me my very own Mother's Day card and doing a terrible job of keeping it a secret. And though Dimitri would do everything he could to try and get her to keep that secret, it never helped. Lissy would just get too excited about the gift that she had made me and always ended up giving it to me a few days early.

And this year was no different. Except that I now had a little one year old that had no idea what was going on and wanted more than anything else in the world to eat his fill of glitter that his sister was getting everywhere.

"What's the damage count at now?" I asked Dimitri after I got home and helped get the kids to bed.

"The coffee table will never be able to see glitter and glue again without shaking and going in to the fetal position and the carpet is going to start a petition against scissors and sticky stuff being dropped on it if we don't do something about Lissy's creative side soon," Dimitri said with a chuckle as we crawled into bed and he wrapped his arms tight around my waist like he did every night.

"Well at least it's not as bad as last year when she discovered that burning the ends of a card a little gave it a nice golden look," I smiled as I remembered how we had had to hide all of the candles and lighters from her and have the "fire is dangerous" talk. Frankly, I was glad that she had gone back to abusing glitter and glue.

"True. But there's still Comrade to worry about," Dimitri said as he nuzzled my neck a bit. He hadn't shaved and his stubble was tickling me and making me giggle.

"Meh he's still too young to get what Mother's Day is all about. And that's why I mysteriously get a perfect Mother's Day card and a box of chocolates every year from him," I said moving around so that I could give Dimitri a playful glare.

"You didn't complain last year, or any year for that matter," Dimitri said raising one eyebrow and trying to hidea playful smirk.

It's true. I had been heavily pregnant with Lissy when Mother's Day had come around and I was slightly sad that I wasn't going to get the chance to be a mother. But Dimitri had come home and surprised me with an arm full of Mother's Day things like _Happy Mother's Day_ balloons, cards, chocolates, and a love heart shaped soap. And best of all, a finger painting of a mum holding a baby that Dimitri's baby niece Zoya had made at his request that Dimitri had his sister send him from Russia.

I had laughed and said that I wasn't a mother yet. But he had just smiled lovingly back and said, _"That didn't matter, you're still carrying our baby and already putting the needs of our child first, so as far as I'm concerned your already a good mum and deserve to be pampered on Mother's Day." _

And he had done the same thing every year until Lissy was old enough to actually make me something. And he started doing it again the moment that he found out about little Comrade.

"You're right. Thank you for being so thoughtful," I said kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Mmh my pleasure," Dimitri said giving me a deeper kiss.

"Mmm I much prefer this present than the cards Comrade," I said after we pulled back.

"But you can have it any time of the year, the kids one only comes around once." Dimitri said teasing me.

"True, but you're much more fun to look at and play with..." And there wasn't much more talking done for the rest of the night.

"Roza," Dimitri said in what most other people in the world would have though was his normal voice. I knew better. It was the voice that he used when he was trying to bring up something that he knew we needed to talk about but he was afraid that it was going to blow up in his face. And usually he was right about the result.

"What is it?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

"I know that things between you and your mother hasn't always been the best, but she's at Court for Mother's Day this year. Don't you think that you should do something with her tomorrow?" Dimitri asked making sure that his voice was kind and not accusing but also a little bit stern so that I couldn't just say no right away and leave it at that.

I let out an exhausted sigh and said, "I guess." We did get along better now. And I think now that she's seen me with my kids that she really does regret not raising me herself. Or at least seeing me more often at the Academy.

"Lissa gave you the day off, so why don't you spend half of it with the kids and the other half doing something with your mum," Dimitri suggested raising and eyebrow in question.

"Are you actually concerned with me spending time with my mum or is this just you projecting your needs onto me because you can't see your mum on Mother's Day?" I asked giving him a suspicious look.

"Guilty," he said with a little smirk. "But I really want you to have a nice time with your mother. I also want the kids to see the two of you getting along. So please do this. For me?" he said begging me with his eyes.

"Oh alright enough with the puppy dog eyes I'll do it!" I cried and Dimitri's face broke out in the full on smile that I lived for.

"Thank you Roza." And then his lips were on me and I don't have time to complaining about anything anymore.

After dinner and the kids were in bed, I finally decided to make good on my promise and gave my mum a call. After a few rings, she answered.

"Guardian Hathaway, " she answered in a crisp business like voice.

"Hey mum."

"Oh Rose, nice to hear from you again. How are my grandkids?"

"They're good. Comrade can say a few words now and Lissy is clearing out the kids section of the library," I laughed.

"That's my girl, she's going to be a smart one."

"Yep. Anyway I was wondering if you had any plans tomorrow?" I asked biting the bullet.

"No, is there something you need me for? Are you in trouble again?" she asked her voice getting lower and almost tired.

"Hey! I'm not that bad! And I don't only call you when I'm in trouble!"

"No, that's what she calls me for." I heard another voice speak up from the background and realized that my mum must have put me on speaker phone.

"Well you are the best at getting in and out of trouble old man," I grinned and heard him laugh.

"Quit encouraging her Ibrahim, it will rub off on the kids!" my mum barked.

"It's too late to stop that Janine, it's in their blood!"

"Anyway! Getting back on topic here, what do you want me for tomorrow Rose?"

"Well it's Mother's Day...and ...I guess that I wanted to see if you...well wanted to do something."

Silence. I guess that she was a little surprised. We never usually did anything together on Mother's Day and mostly focused on what the kids had done for me and had a good laugh.

_Well this should be interesting. _

"Ok, what did you have in mind?" mum said sounding either slightly happy or slightly nervous, but was trying to hide it either way.

"Well Lissa had this coupon for a day spa that she can't get around to using and I was thinking that we could give that a go." Dimitri was always telling me how beautiful I looked and I knew that that would never change, but just because I was a tough Guardian didn't mean that I couldn't keep up maintenance on my body and keep it looking as good as possible.

"Is it in Court?"

"No...and that's probably why Lissa never bothered to use it. She would have to take too many guardians with her and it would be suspicious. But that won't be a problem for two bad ass guardians like us," I said with a grin.

"Ha ok what time do you want me to meet you?"

"After twelve, I need to spend time with my kids."

"Of course. See you tomorrow," she said and hung up.

"How did it go?" Dimitri asked as he came out of the hiding place that I knew he had been lurking in.

"Pretty well actually. She said yes and it didn't end up in a screaming match so that's always a plus," I said hiding my uneasiness with a joke like I always did. Dimitri of course saw right through that.

"Stop worrying, it will be just fine," he said as he came over and hugged me.

"Ok, but I'm going to remind you that you said that when you're identifying the body and I'm being held for questioning at Guardian Headquarters," I smiled.

"At least then I will be able to buy chocolate again without it all mysteriously disappearing," Dimitri joked back before kissing me.

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MUM!" cried Lissy as she catapulted onto my bed at whatever time of the morning it was.

"Happpp Mama aay," Comrade cried out after and slowly crawled up into my bed.

"Look what I made you!" Lissy cried as she shoved a card in my face. It was covered in so much glitter that I could only just make out the words MUM and DAY written in wobbly handwriting.

"Ooh It's beautiful!" I said with a big smile and pulled her in for a big hug.

"And look at what Comrade made you," Dimitri said as he walked in with a big plate of food.

"He did not! Daddy made that!" Lissy cried and I just laughed.

"He would have if he was old enough," I said as Dimitri placed the tray of food on my lap.

"Happy Mother's Day," he said giving me a kiss.

"Mmm happy Mother's Day indeed," I said and began eating my delicious breakfast as Lissy told me in detail how she made the card and then gave me a mismatched bead neckless that she made herself and was very proud of it.

Before I knew it, it was time to meet my mother, so I got up and dressed and walked down to where my Court assigned car was. And of course my mother was waiting there for me.

"Still having trouble being on time? I thought that being a Guardian would have taught you better punctuality by now," she said instead of greeting me.

"Well happy Mother's Day to you too," I said and opened up the car. I looked over at her and was glad that she looked a little ashamed of herself. _Well this was off to a good start! _

"So what treatments do you want to get done?" I asked after we had been driving for a few minutes in silence.

"I'm not sure really. I haven't done anything like this in, well, over twenty years."

"You?" she asked after another few minutes of silence.

"I was thinking of something to soften up my hands and a face mask," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Your hands will just get rough again the next time that you get in a fight," Mum said always the practical Guardian.

"Yeah well I would like to have them soft while I have the chance. Otherwise they will get beyond help," I said and glanced down at my mother's hands. We didn't say anything else for the rest of the trip.

_Great idea Dimitri._

"Hello and welcome to River Falls Beauty Therapist, what can I do for you today?" asked a pretty blond receptionist called Tammy who looked a little too happy for some reason.

"Hi I'm Vasilisa Dragomir, I talked to you yesterday. I have a coupon for a free day spa treatment," I said putting on a friendly smile.

"Of course right this way," she said and we followed her to what looked like a locker room.

"Vasilisa Dragomir?" my mother asked is a surprised whisper as we followed Tammy down the hall.

"The coupon was made out to her and it couldn't be changed. They somehow got it into their heads that Lissa is human royalty and wanted to brag about having her as a client. I asked and she was cool with me using her name," I whispered back without turning my head.

"Please leave your clothes and personal items here and put on your bathing suits and robes. We always start off our spa treatments with a relaxing soak in our mineral baths," Tammy said still smiling and walked away.

I just shrugged my shoulders and started striping before I put on my robe. I turned around and saw my mother also in her robe but holding her stake.

"What should I do with this?" my mother asked looking clueless with a stake for what must be the first time in her life.

"Mum it's a spa. I seriously doubt that we're going to get attacked in the middle of the day at a spa of all places," I said rolling my eyes. She didn't look happy, but did as I said and put her stake with her clothes and followed me out and into the baths. We soaked there for about a half and hour when Tammy came back.

"How are we feeling?" she asked still smiling. Seriously does she have a nervous tick or something?

"Relaxed." In truth I was actually getting a bit dizzy but really what else was there to say to a question like that?

"Wonderful. Now it's time for your treatment. If you will follow me, we have a list for you to chose from."

We got out of the bath and picked out what looked good. As luck would have it, the ones that I wanted were available and I got a hand soaking massage and a deep face moisturizing treatment while my mother just got a pedicure. Lame.

We were led to different rooms and I laid down on a chair like table while Tammy dimmed the lights and started soaking my hand.

"Such rough skin. What do you do for a living?" she asked as she started rubbing a pummel stone over my palms to get rid of the dead skin.

"I'm a personal trainer," I lied. But it would explain my rough hands.

"My that must be exhausting. Did your mother put you on to that?" Tammy asked as she put a hot towel on my face but leaving my mouth uncovered.

"Yes. She sent me to a special school to teach me all of the skills needed to do what I do." Well at least that wasn't a lie.

"I'm just going to put on some relaxing music before I do your other hand. Just lie still and relax. You can fall asleep if you want," Tammy said in a soft voice.

I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. I was feeling pretty relaxed. I think that there was some aroma therapy oils in that mineral bath. I was just on the verge of falling asleep when I felt it.

I may not be shadow kissed anymore but I would know the feeling of a Strigoi anywhere. Only years of training made it possible for me to roll out of the way fast enough to avoid the first bite!

I threw the towel off of my face and looked around the darkened room. It was hard to make out with my eyes so hazy from the hot towel and the "mineral bath" or whatever it really was, but I could distinctly make out two figures moving around in a non human way. Out of reflex, I reached for my stake holder on my thigh... only it wasn't there.

DAMN!

I quickly moved around so that the table chair thing was in between me and both of them, that wouldn't slow them done much, but it would buy me a bit of time.

"Hey she's not Moroi! We've been lied to," cried the smaller one. My mind was still too fuzzy to understand what that was supposed to mean. I was still trying to grasp the fact that against all odds, we had in fact been attacked in the middle of the day at a spa. I was never going to hear the end of this from my mother!

"Who cares, she's still going to be lunch," said the bigger and uglier of the two.

I know that I should be paying attention, but I wasn't. I was too busy looking around for options. There was only four ways to kill a Strigoi. One was sun light, not going to happen in here. The next was a silver stake infused with all four elements to which I didn't have access to right now. The other was beheading, not likely with anything that I had in possession right now. And setting them on fire, too bad Sparky wasn't here right now.

But there was a little fire pit thing where they heat up hot rocks to put on your back! If I could just...

"Awwww look at her, she thinks that she can beat us with her little shovel, now isn't that cut...AAA," he cried as I through one of the flaming coals at his face and watched him go up like a bonfire doused in kerosine.

"Why you little-" He never got the chance to finish that sentence. A fun fact that I have learnt over the years is that a Strigoi can't help but flinch when they're around open flame. So while he was looking at his roasting buddy, I was reloading the shovel with hot coals and was more then ready when he finally came after me.

_Why were they here? _They couldn't possibly have known that I was coming here today. I had only called in last night to make a reservation! How had they planned this so fast? And why did they want me? I mean I know I'm good but come on!

Suddenly I remembered that my mother was in the next room.

CRAP

I ran as fast as I could to her room. She didn't have an early warning system like I did! Which meant that she was vulnerable. I only hoped that being a Guardian as long as she had meant that she had at least one dirty trick up her sleeve.

I threw open the door and barged into the room to find my mother...sitting down with her feet up getting a pedicure like she was supposed to be. But the one doing the pedicure was Tammy. I knew she smiled too much for her own good.

"Rose what are you doing?" Mum asked clearly surprised at me barging in like a mad woman on a spa day.

"Trips over, I hope that you had fun," I said walking over to her and grabbing her arm and pulling her up on her feet and out the door.

"Rosemarie what is the meaning of this?"

Uh- oh my full name...

"There are Strigoi here. We need to get our stakes and get out," I said while looking around for possible threats. After hearing the word Strigoi, my mother instantly snapped out of mother mode and into the role of Guardian.

"Please Miss Dragomir don't go, we haven't finished with you yet," I turned around to see Tammy with another too big smile as she pushed a button and another Strigoi came in through the door before it slammed shut.

I knew she had been in on it! I back tracked and grabbed the bright light that Tammy had been shining on my mother's foot and shone it in his eyes. While it wouldn't hurt him like sunlight it would temporarily blind him so we could make our get away. He reared back and I barged past him opening the door before he could regain his footing.

We got out the door with me in the lead while mum covered my back and we quickly made our way back to the locker room.

Only to find that our stakes were gone.

"DAMN! I bet that it was that receptionist that smiles too much," Mum muttered as I looked around for a substitute weapon...when suddenly I had it!

I reached for my pile of clothes and grabbed my pants.

"Rose this is no time to be concerned with modesty, we're in danger here," my mother scolded while keeping watch. Well I guess it's true that all mothers could multitask, even those who weren't mothers for all that long.

"I'm not getting dressed, I'm looking for this," I said as I pulled my belt out.

"What are you going to do, choke the Strigoi?" my mother said rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm going to use this," I said showing her the thin silver cord that was coiled up inside of my belt buckle. One good pull with this and you could easily decapitate a Strigoi.

"Where did you get that and where can I get one?" my mother asked eyeing it hungrily.

"Dimitri gave it to me one Mother's Day when Lissy was still too young to get me anything. I wear it every day," I said as I stood up and decided to put my pants on anyway before I walked over to her. I took charge again because I was the one with the weapon and we made our way to the exit.

But not without running into what must have been the entire Strigoi population of the spa in the lobby, which was about ten or so. The shades had been closed and it was dark as it could be in the middle of the day, so the sun wasn't going to be of much help here either.

Ten. Nothing that my mother and I couldn't handle normally. But with her unarmed and me with only having a small weapon that I wasn't as skilled with, we were as a distanced disadvantage.

"Who are you?" asked a brute of a Strigoi that I took to be more muscle than brains.

"What's it to you?" I asked in a bitchy voice. Talking nice wasn't going to get me out of here any faster so why bother?

"Well this is unexpected. I was under the impression that we were going to be entertaining Queen Dragomir today. But instead, we end up with you," said a posher Strigoi walking up front.

They wanted Lissa? But how did they...the coupon. They thought that I was her! This was all a set up!

"I suppose that we will just have to make do with the best that we have caught in our trap and try for the grand prize later. Have fun boys," the posh leader said and I heard a chorus of chuckles.

_Well, at least it was me that walked into this instead of Lissa, _I thought wearily. But that didn't mean that I was going to throw in the towel just yet. I still had a Mother's Day to celebrate.

The first one came at me and I quickly stepped to the side as he charged and slid the silver wire across his throat cutting it off neatly before the next one decided to try his luck. He was a bit more tricky now that he had seen what I could to with this thing and didn't let me get at his neck. But just as I was about to get mad and punch him out of frustration, I caught the eye of my mother and threw my belt weapon over to her. She jumped up in the air, caught it, wrapped it around his neck while still in mid air, then as she landed, she pulled down and he was dust before he even hit the floor.

My Mum has skills.

We went back to back and she kept the belt for a bit while I went and fought with hand to hand combat.

"Some Mother's Day this turned out the be huh?" she called out over her shoulder mid fight.

"It sure is. The most I was expecting out of this day was a card with too much..." Hold on.

"Rose?" my mother asked after I stopped mid sentence and was only fighting with one hand.

"I've got an idea, just hold them off for a minute!" I called out as I set to work. I jumped on the receptionists desk and raised my hand up. I was just tall enough to catch a bit of sunlight through the blinds that had been closed.

I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out Lissy's Mother's Day card and held it up to the light. It was covered in so much glitter and shine things that it had the same effect as I disco ball...and I was shining it on all of the Strigoi.

They cried out as one by one they all turned into a pile of dust.

I jumped off of the counter, grabbed my mother's hand and ran for the door. Only once we were in direct sunlight did I stop to catch my breath.

"That was genius," my mother said beside me as she looked around to make sure that there were no more nasty surprises.

"Thank your granddaughter. It wouldn't have worked if she wasn't so obsessed with glitter and shiny things," I smiled and looked down at the card again.

"Let's go home so I can rip Dimitri a new one for suggesting this in the first place," I said as we headed for the car.

"While it wasn't exactly my ideal way of spending Mother's Day with you, it was nice to fight by your side. You're really very good and I need to give you more credit for that," my mother said surprising me.

"Wow thanks Mum," I said with a shy smile before getting in the car. We were halfway back to Court when suddenly mum started cracking up over nothing.

"What's so funny?" I asked with a smile as I kept driving.

"I just noticed what were wearing and the fact that we're going to have to walk around Court like this to get back home," my mother laughed.

I looked at what we were wearing for the first time and couldn't help but burst out laughing as well.

She was still in her robe with one foot pedicured and painted and I was still in a swimsuit top and a pair of paints and had one hand scrubbed clean while the other was covered in glitter.

"Weirdest Mother's Day ever," I laughed.

**Happy Mother's Day to you all. **

**2015**


End file.
